As access to the Internet and other communications networks becomes easier, convenient and more readily available, these networks are increasingly used for applications involving the transfer of data such as images, audio, video and other types of streaming data, text and other content. For example, data for computer software, music, video, news services, games and other applications is being requested and delivered via the Internet and, for many applications, via wireless networks such as those implemented for cellular telephone networks.
Content (e.g., audio, images or video) has evolved in application and is readily stored electronically. For example, the storage of music in rewritable electronic media has become a popular method in which to maintain and access music collections. Another example involves video applications, where digital recording and storage of television and personal video collections has become popular. Photos are often stored and accessed electronically, instead of relying upon conventional printed photos and physical photo albums.
As the electronic storage of content and other data grows in popularity, access to the data as well as convenient manners in which to transfer and store the data become increasingly important. For example, sales of music in downloadable audio formats are becoming increasingly popular. Digital audio players based in the home or office or mobile players that can be used in autos, laptop computers, personal listening devices and others are used for playback of this downloaded music. In order to play the music, audio data is loaded onto mobile players or local computers and used to locally play the music. Typically, the amount of storage space required for storing a large volume of audio data exceeds the memory capacity of digital audio players, computers or other appliances capable of playing music. In this regard, the management and use of audio, as well as other data such as image data and video data, has become increasingly burdensome in view of the demand for and use of this data.
As applied to conventional documents and other types of data (e.g., text-based documents, spreadsheets or presentations), the demand for flexible and efficient access to such data has also grown. For example, many workplaces have become increasingly mobile; employees are often working from a remote location such as at home or at traveling locations. In some instances, devices available for use in accessing data are limited to mobile devices such as mobile telephones, personal data devices and others, with communications limited to communications mediums available to those mobile devices.
Access to data from remote locations has been particularly useful for facilitating mobility while maintaining a desirable level of access to information. However, the growing size of data files desirably transferred to facilitate mobility or to otherwise provide flexible data access has presented challenges to the delivery of such data over communications channels. For instance, email is generally limited in its ability to transfer large data files, such as audio, video, text and presentation files.
For situations in which remote access to stored data is desirable, and in particular, the increase in use and lack of availability of data transfer approaches requires the creative use of communications channels and data. To meet these and other data transfer needs, networks have been enhanced both in the ability to process larger quantities of data and in the ability to process data at a higher rate of speed. In addition, network access appliances (i.e., appliances capable of communicating over the Internet) have been improved to increase the speed at which data can be processed and transferred. However, as the demand for high quantity data transfer increases, these needs become more difficult to meet.
One challenge to the effective transfer and management of data is related to the provision of data at an acceptable transfer rate (e.g., as related to bandwidth). Certain network access appliances are limited in their ability to process audio data at different speeds, either by their internal configurations or by the availability of network access. For instance, mobile (wireless) type network access appliances can be limited by the available connectivity to mobile networks. In addition, certain network appliances may be adaptable for wired and wireless communications, with their respective ability to access data being relatively higher (e.g., faster) via wired communications, relative to wireless; when these appliances are operating via wireless communications, they may be able to receive data at a lower speed, or bitrate.
Effectively and efficiently managing data transfer via communication networks has been challenging in the face of the advancement of technologies and trade channels that use or could use network-based data transfer. In addition, the limitations of previous approaches restrict the ability to meet the demand of transferring such data between data terminals in a reliable, secure, efficient and affordable manner.